Emergency housing and transitional housing

When a client's emergency accommodation is funded through an Emergency Housing Grant, it is not intended that the accommodation will be the client's home.

The stay in temporary accommodation used as emergency housing is a last resort and is generally intended to be for a maximum grant period of 7 nights at a time. Some clients may need more than one 7-night grant and may also qualify for a longer period.

Emergency accommodation is not the client's permanent home, regardless of the grant period or number of grants.

During the grant period of the Emergency Housing Grant the client is required to make reasonable efforts to find an alternative place to stay.

Clients staying in emergency housing funded by an Emergency Housing Grant do not qualify for Accommodation Supplement, even when they pay an emergency housing contribution towards their accommodation costs.

The only exception is when the client is staying in emergency housing due to violence and has accommodation costs for their former home.

For more information see:

Emergency housing that is not funded by an Emergency Housing Grant (including contracted emergency housing and transitional housing funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development), provides short-term, temporary accommodation while the client is unable to access sustainable housing.

Clients in contracted emergency housing and transitional housing generally also get tailored social support while they are assisted into sustainable housing.

Generally, a client staying in emergency housing that is not funded by an Emergency Housing Grant, or in transitional housing (including contracted emergency housing and transitional housing funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development), does not qualify for Accommodation Supplement. The only exception to this is when the client is staying in emergency housing or transitional housing due to violence and has accommodation costs for their former home.

When determining if the other emergency housing or transitional housing is occupied as the client's home, and they qualify for Accommodation Supplement, consider the specific circumstances and arrangements for the accommodation, including:

• the amount of time the client has already been in the accommodation and how long they are likely to stay there
• whether the client can stay in the accommodation until they have found permanent accommodation or if they must leave after a set amount of time
• the level of autonomy the client has while in the accommodation, such as:
  • are they allowed guests
  • can they come and go as they choose
  • are they expected to clean the area of the accommodation they occupy

Note clients in transitional housing who are getting Social Rehabilitation Assistance for that transitional housing are not eligible for Accommodation Supplement.

For more information see:

A client who arranges a long-term lease of a motel room may be considered to be occupying the premises as their home.

However, this is not considered emergency housing and a client would not get an Emergency Housing Grant for emergency housing to pay for this.

The client may qualify for Accommodation Supplement for these accommodation costs.